APEX and Nadir: A Turian's Travesty of Torrid Tales
by JinShiranai
Summary: Veritus, a disgraced turian exiled from his home world, was scouted by the Andromeda Initiative to join APEX. Set after the events of the Mass Effect Andromeda main story, these are the tales of Veritus and his ever-changing squads as they continue to keep their corner of Andromeda safe. (Based on my Mass Effect Andromeda Multiplayer characters and experiences.)


**APEX Candidate TR-05701-1**

 **Name:** Veritus Artis

 **Race:** Turian

 **Age:** 28

 **Affiliations:** Hierarchy Military (former), Bubblegum Reapers

 **Status:** Pre-approved

 *******SCREENING INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT*******

 _All settled? Good. Let's start with your name, age, and current occupation._

"My name is Veritus Artis. I am 28 years old. My current occupation is, uh…"

 _Go ahead. No judgment here._

"Right. My current occupation is… mercenary."

 _A mercenary. Fresh out of the Hierarchy as well. How did you come to be a mercenary, Veritus?_

"Isn't all this already in my file?"

 _Yes. But files can be misleading. Especially when the reports they're based on were written up by the offended party. We want to know how you perceive the events that led to you and your sister's exile, Veritus._

"Right. I suppose that's fair. Where do you want me to start?"

 _With the order that sent you after her._

 _[clears throat]_ "No preamble then. To the point.

"Avina Artis. My older sister by two years. That was the name on the execution order given to me and my squad to carry out. They provided us with information on her last known whereabouts, possible hideouts, and known armaments. They strongly cautioned us against her exemplary marksmanship. Her skills at range had earned her the nickname "Bubblegum Reaper" from the humans she occasionally ran missions with. It was on account of her armor, you see. It was… _[cough, chair squeaks]_. But the order didn't tell us what she had done. Or why they were sending me. A blood relative.

"My squad was uneasy about the order. They didn't say anything to me directly, but when you've been with the same guys since boot, some things don't need to be said. Of course something didn't seem right, but I was a good little turian. We follow orders. Don't ask questions. Let the higher-ups do the thinking. And that was my mistake. I started thinking.

"We set out to a decommissioned base on a mining asteroid not far from Palaven. It wasn't on the list of possible locations they gave us, but I knew she'd be there. No one knew she went there but me. It was her secret place, where she went to decompress. To think. Be alone with the faces she saw through her scope that clung to her dreams. She took me there exactly once.

"It was after my first failed mission. It wasn't my fault, but the fallout was catastrophic. I, we lost Aerin. The first of us from boot to fall in the line of duty. I couldn't let it go. I was in charge, I was responsible for everyone's lives. But I couldn't save Aerin. Her face haunted me for months after. She never blamed me, but I couldn't let go. That's when Avina took me to her special place. We sat. Talked. Somehow, floating out there on an empty rock in the middle of space, I found peace. She told me this was where she went when the faces wouldn't stop staring. Said that I could come whenever I needed. But it had to be our secret. I promised her it would be. With my squad in tow I broke that promise.

"Our approach was without issue. But the tallest tower on the rock was at a distance directly across from the shuttle pad. I knew she was watching us, so I directed my squad to stay behind me. We all realized then why they sent me. Anyone else would be dead already.

"I hadn't taken five steps from the platform before our comms lit up. Don't come any closer, she said. Touch your weapons and I will open fire. I raised my hands and stepped forward one pace. I just want to talk, I said. Bullshit, she spat back. You've got a whole squad with you. Well, she wasn't wrong. But I did want to talk. I wanted to know why we were sent after her in the first place. I said as much and took another step. Soon as I did, a shot rang out. Seeing as I was still alive, the bullet clearly wasn't intended for me. I looked back and Torin was on the floor, clutching his face. On the floor next to him was his Mattock and a mandible. He was still alive, writhing and screaming while Reneus saw to him. Try that again and the next shot is lethal, she said. I believed her. I ordered my squad to take care of Torin in the shuttle. Said I'd go up and talk to her myself. The comms were silent after that. I took that as acceptance, theirs and hers.

"After ascending the tower, I found her slouched up against the wall, Black Widow resting on her shoulder. She didn't say anything when I came in. Didn't move when I sat next to her. We stayed like that until Reneus notified me over the comm that Torin had stabilized. Avina sighed at that. Then she asked me why they sent me, of all people. I shrugged and said Torin would probably be dead if it wasn't me. Then again, they wouldn't have found you either. So if it wasn't me, maybe his mandibles would still be intact. She didn't find that funny.

 _[clears throat]_ "Not wanting to waste any more time, I asked her what had been burning at the tip of my tongue ever since that order met my eyes. What did you do? After a moment, she told me. Apparently, she killed a human. An Alliance officer.

"They were doing a joint operation helmed by the Alliance. She was ordered to take out a batarian patrol so the Alliance unit could move in and secure stolen military tech. She did that no problem. The problem came in when they discovered batarian children being held there as well. The Alliance officer in charge ordered the children eliminated as collateral damages. Avina refused. The officer said he'd do it himself after making comments about my sister's race and gender that I won't repeat. My sister shot him. The Alliance squad didn't appreciate that and turned on her. None of them survived.

"Once word got to the upper echelons about what Avina had done, the Hierarchy had no choice but to execute her to save face before the Alliance. Even if they did believe her story, she killed an entire squad of humans. There was no coming back from that. So she went into hiding, and there we were.

"I didn't know what to say to all that. I nodded. I wanted to say something to console her, but all I could do was flex my mandibles. Open, shut. Open, shut. It's okay, she assured me. There will come a time when you'll understand, she said. One day, you'll be faced with an order your heart can't follow. All the training in the world won't prepare you for that day, and you'll be in the deepest of shit. But your conscience will be clear and your heart light because you did the right thing, orders be damned. That's what she told me. And I didn't believe her at first. Not until I heard the comm link sever and my shuttle take off. My squad had left me, thinking I had turned traitor.

"And I guess, thanks to them, I had. My original plan was to take my sister back and plead her case. She wasn't a criminal, she didn't deserve death. But my own betrayed me. My sister and I spent the next few days picking off wave after wave of soldiers and the occasional bounty hunter, until the Hierarchy sent us a compromise: stop killing our men and turn yourselves in and we won't execute you. Just strip you of your rank and title and exile you from turian space on pain of death. We weren't going to get anything better, so we turned ourselves in.

"The rest is simple. Discharged from the Hierarchy, dropped off outside turian space, told in no uncertain terms to never come back, and yeah. With our military skills it was obvious we'd become mercenaries. Started small, but things grew until she had a band of her own. Called them the Bubblegum Reapers, on account of her nickname. I don't think she actually knows what bubblegum is.

 _But the mercenary life didn't suit you, did it._

"I'm a soldier. _Was_ , a soldier. Mercenary life… it was guns without structure. Violence without order. That kind of chaos is how people get killed."

 _But you were good at it._

"I was good at staying alive. The Hierarchy couldn't kill me, neither will some punk with a pistol."

 _Do you know why we approached you, Veritus?_

"From what I understand, going to Andromeda means leaving this existence behind. Entirely. What better candidate than a disgraced soldier with no attachments, right?"

 _You're a survivor._

"It's difficult to make a career out of being a soldier if you can't at least do that."

 _What we mean is, you act. Regarding the situation with your sister, you could never have predicted that your squad would leave you and brand you a traitor. But did you break? No, you made a choice and for better or worse you acted. Without orders. We need people like that in Andromeda. Andromeda is an unexplored unknown. Who knows what we might encounter there. For those of us going out into the field, we will experience things no one has experienced before. There will be no one to advise you. No one to give commands. No one to pass their knowledge on to you based on the situations at hand. The Initiative needs people like yourself, Veritus, people that act. Those are the people that will enable us to carve out a new life in Andromeda. That is why we approached you to join APEX._

"And not my sister? She's the better shot, you know."

 _She's unwilling to leave the Bubblegum Reapers behind._

"Then I guess I'll have to do. So what now? Do I sign a release, or…?"

 _[papers shuffle]_ _Pending their approval, this will be your core squad. Have a look over them at your leisure. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us. Dismissed._

 _[more shuffling]_ "A human adept, okay. A krogan… engineer? And her child? Wait, is that right? Woah woah hold on this salarian is just a kid!"

 _See you in 600 years, Veritus_.

"But sir, wait, you can't be serious! He's barely-!"

 *******END TRANSCRIPT*******


End file.
